RECENT QCOP EVENTS 2024
Members evening: Wed March 13th at 7.00pm on Zoom: Evening with Alistair Currie, Head of Campaigns and Communication at Population Matters.
Alistair has been a professional campaigner for 20 years, including at PETA UK, Cruelty Free International and Free Tibet. After campaigning for animal and human rights, he was keen to make a contribution in the environmental or international development fields and answered a job advertisement looking for a campaigner “used to tough issues”! He was delighted to be able to combine them both when he joined Population Matters in 2016.
Members evening: Wed January 15th at 7.00pm on Zoom: ‘ Family planning and birth control must not be discussed under any circumstances.’
Sue Cariss told us about her experiences working as a volunteer with the Anglican Church in Tanzania. The Church, together with an English based charity ‘gomakeadifference’ (GO MAD), had done some excellent work with remote and rural villages including providing small houses with latrines and water tanks and working to help cope with malaria. They were based in Musoma, the third largest town in Tanzania on the shores of Lake Victoria. Sue told us about the woman’s perspective on the ground, painting a vivid picture of their lives and the devastating after effects of the AIDS epidemic. At the time she was there, 45% of the population was under 15. Some people, woman and children in particular, were living in truly destitute circumstances. We heard about some of the difficulties involved in setting up any sort of discussions addressing womens’ health concerns, and attitudes to having many children.
PAST EVENTS (2023)
Members’ evening: Wed November 15th at 7.30pm on Zoom: “How can QCOP members raise and discuss population issues with other Quakers?” We shared our views, knowledge and experience with other like-minded Quakers in breakout groups and then reported back. A valuable discussion.
Members evening: August 2nd, Wed, at 7pm (UK time) on Zoom: With American Friends from Quaker Earth Witness, we had a discussion about Pronatalism (which means encouraging people to have children), based on the paper “Challenging Pronatalism is key to advancing reproductive rights and a sustainable population.”, (Bajaj & Stade, 2022). We were impressed by the wealth of professional expertise amongst our American Friends, many of whom were experts in the field, and by how well the meeting was held. Very Quakerly!
Members evening: July 26th Wed at 7pm on Zoom. A talk on ‘Considerations in Strengthening Family Planning Programs‘. Our speaker, Marc Okunnu was the director of the Africa region of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Marc worked for more than 43 years in the field, focusing on reproductive health and family planning programmes particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and was able to reflect on this long and distinguished career and answer some questions from QCOP members and committee based on this wealth of experience ‘on the ground’.
Breeding Grounds Journeymen Theatre estimate that during their 33 performances, over the 12 months of the play, they reached at least 800 people. Even in meeting houses, the audiences were drawn from beyond the Quaker community. Lynn Morris writes “We are so grateful to QCOP for leading us into this particular work. We think it has impacted upon people who may not like what Breeding Grounds has to say but hopefully will find it hard to ignore what they’ve witnessed.”
Audiences donated a total of £1,293 for CHASE Africa, supporting organisations that enable access to family planning, healthcare and rights, while protecting the environment and building resilience to climate change. A big thank-you to everyone who made a donation.
QCOP AGM was held on Wednesday 7pm, 14th June on Zoom. 15 people were present. A new committee was appointed (see Contact and Donations page) After the formal part of the meeting, committee member Jason Evans showed those present how the Ishikawa Diagram could help QCOP analyse the root causes of a problem. He showed how through creating the diagram with ones own ideas on a problem, such as QCOP being accused of racism for example. This was an interesting exercise, with a QCOP-relevant problem as an example, which Friends present hope to pursue further. The diagram can be used for any situation where one wants to know about the root causes of a problem.
A QCOP Special Interest Meeting at Yearly Meeting was held on 22 April 2023 – on zoom Once again QCOP held a special interest meeting as part of Yearly Meeting. This time we had Friend Digby Swift from Balby Meeting as our speaker. He shared his experiences of working on development projects in poorer countries of the world and explored the needs of individuals and communities and what resources are available. The number of people who need access to services and infra-structure is a key issue that changes over time. About 20 people attended and there was a lively question and answer session after his talk. The session was recorded. If you would like to see the video of this talk, please request it by sending an email to: qcop.contact@gmail.com
Members evening: was held on January 25th on Zoom. Our speaker was Richard Grossman, an American Friend and member of QCOP, on ‘Why do women need abortions?’ Richard has 40 years of experience in obstetrics and gynaecology. The session was attended by about 23 members. Richard gave us an informative talk on abortion issues in America, with the recent changes in the law in mind, and there was a lively question and answer session afterwards.
PAST EVENTS (2022 and before)
On October 15: Yorkshire Quakers met at the Mount School in York to explore the links between the crises we face. It was introduced by Quaker Peace and Social Witness, followed by a presentation by Paul Rogers, Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. Another speaker, Digby Swift had considerable experience of working in poorer parts of the world on development projects. Martin Schweiger gave an account of QCOP’s work to raise the profile of population issues. Please see the full report in the latest Newsletter.
On October 12 we held a Members’ Evening on the topic: ‘Is the world’s population really falling?’ – as we wanted to clarify the facts, when many Friends responded to our concerns saying: “but the population rate is falling!!” Are they correct? Martin Earl, co-ordinator of the London Group of Population Matters was our speaker. He gave a fascinating fact based talk with many points of interest. It is true that the population is in decline in a few isolated countries, like Japan and South Korea. But Martin explained that even though the global fertility rate may be in decline, the global population is certainly on the increase, and will continue so until at least 2050, because of the large numbers involved and the momentum. About 22 people attended.
On August 17 at 19.00 a Members’ Evening to watch and discuss the film ‘8 Billion Angels’ was held. This is a 2020 American film which examines the effects of overpopulation and how humanity is depleting natural resources, and analyses possible solutions to implement before it is too late. It was followed by a lively Q and A session with the film’s producer Terry Spahr. 47 people attended. The review of the evening can be viewed here
On June 11 the Launch of ‘Breeding Grounds’ in Stroud took place. A play exploring the dilemmas that face us as we try to live more sustainably during the climate crisis and rising world population. Commissioned by QCOP from Journeymen Theatre, a Human Rights theatre company supported by Quaker Meetings.
On May 21 and May 22: QCOP was part of the Yearly Meeting Groups Fair on Zoom
On May 22 QCOP had a ‘Faith in Action’ meeting at the Yearly Meeting ‘Fringe Event’ on Zoom: Six Friends explained: ‘Why I am involved with QCOP and how it affects my Quaker Witness’. 25 Friends attended.
On April 27, 2022 a QCOP Members’ Evening was held on Zoom.
Florence Blondel, a black Ugandan and Alistair Currie of Population Matters, responded to a recent letter in ‘the Friend’, accusing those concerned about population as being racist, white supremacist and more! A thorough discussion was had to refute these allegations.
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A Quakerly Concern about Population was accepted by Gloucestershire Area Meeting on 10.09.2013.A minute was sent to Yearly Meeting supporting the Concern of Roger Plenty (Nailsworth Meeting) on Global Population.
“Friends expressed their support for this minute because of the impossibility of continuing as we are if we are to reach the goal of giving every individual the value they deserve….
The writer Pam Lunn commented on the need for change as to how we think culturally about complex issues. Culture change takes a long time. The objective of the Population Group is that we should seek to raise awareness of the issue of over population, which is fundamental and allied to the drive towards sustainability. This can be broadened to remind us that sustainability is a worldwide issue and as Quakers we are a worldwide movement. Therefore increased awareness needs to be worldwide awareness.”
Bath Yearly Meeting August 5th 2014. Roger Plenty and a team of Quakers held a Special Interest meeting at which an audience of about 80 heard Roger Martin, from Population Matters, talk on Population, Change Without Coercion. This was followed by a stall at the Ideas Fair and the creation of an email group of concerned Friends. Further events followed . (see below)
General Election May 2015. Resources sheet produced by the embryonic QCOP group, with questions or points to raise with parliamentary candidates. (see Articles)
Inaugural meeting of 6 Quakers in Birmingham, to formalize a group. Adopting the name, QCOP, Quaker Concern Over Population, a simple structure was agreed and various plans made including developing a website, posters, and applying to Friends House to become a Listed Informal Group. The aims of the group are:-
1. To remind Friends of the dangers of population growth, and the means by which growth can be addressed without coercion.
2. To encourage Friends to overcome their reticence and to explain this difficult and topical subject in a reflective way.
3. To communicate informally with various bodies within the Society of Friends, providing information as needed.
Early Discussions. Several QCOP members have approached their Meetings and Area Meetings to hold discussions on overpopulation with some success. Two QCOP steering group members gave presentations and ran discussions for the Hampshire and Islands Regional meeting in October 2016. A presentation was given in Sedburgh, two in Cambridge and one in Muswell Hill.
A Letter entitled, Why Population, was sent to all Area Meetings in August 2016 to consider. We will be following up this initiative in 2016, accompanied by an invitation to hold discussions.
Distribution of free large photographic books, ‘Overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Overshoot’ to 5 secondary schools and colleges in the Stroud Area November 2015, with others in Cambridge.
A comprehensive website has been developed, with help from a Quaker in Wales, using a WordPress programme.
A Poster with cartoon is now available on the website to offer to Meetings.
We hold regular Skype steering group meetings and two open face to face meetings a year, to which QCOP members are invited.
2017 Yearly Meeting Gathering at Warwick. Anne le Mare, a retired lecturer and QCOP member, addressed a Special Interest Meeting on the subject of Global Population Issues with particular focus on why people have large families and on the different ways countries have reduced their birth rate. This was attended by about 50 Friends and well received. In addition, we ran a stall at the Groups Fair, discussed issues and distributed information.
Woodbrooke course: “Costing Not Less Than Everything” 24th to 26th November 2017. The course was a re-visit of the Swarthmore lecture “Costing Not Less Than Everything” given in 2011 by Pam Lunn. This lecture concerning human sustainability on Earth, inspired and affirmed many feelings about how we live in the world and the footprint we leave behind. The lecture is still as relevant today as it was 6 years ago when it was first given. 14 Quakers attended the course which was ably led by Maud Granger, Woodbrooke’s Faith in Action Tutor. Representing QCOP were Jonathan Riddell, Cherry Foster, June New and Nick Chetwood. During the weekend we specifically looked at three areas that are particularly troublesome to sustainability – travel, food and population. On behalf of QCOP, Nick Chetwood gave a 40 minute presentation on the current population situation and then Cherry Foster briefed attendees on some examples of countries which had had outstanding success in reducing their fertility rate. These presentations were followed by a discussion session. The presentations were received with mixed feelings ranging from anxiety as to what to do, anger at the situation and relief at understanding the Global Population picture better.
QCOP in Gloucester 03.02.18. 18 Quakers attended an event organised by QCOP and held in the Friends Meeting House in the centre of Gloucester. Friends were drawn from the Area Meeting and from as far as Charlbury, Hereford and South Wales, as well as three of the QCOP organisers from the north of England.
The aim was firstly to introduce participants to the issues caused by global overpopulation in the Quakerly context of the Canterbury Commitment on living sustainably, (Yearly Meeting 2011,Minute 36 ). The second aim was to show how the solutions to the issues are close to Quakerly thinking, involving the education and equality of women and the provision of family planning facilities. The third was to familiarise Friends with the subject so that they find it easier to consider and discuss it with others.
Starting with a short Population Matters film clearly explaining the current global situation, the group moved on to explore their own personal responses in pairs and small group discussion. Feedback on “How overpopulation impoverishes the earth” revealed a wide understanding in the group of the international environmental issues 7.5 billion people are creating, as well as the local problems created in nations. They included, “ Contribution to war, terrorism, migration and human misery”, “Disrupts economies” and “Problems with Cultural assumptions.”
The 3 hour event started with shared lunch in a room with resources on the subject, and ended with tea, cakes and feedback. The latter was very positive. The same theme was presented at Cambridge in June 2018, with similar encouraging feedback. Further meetings have been held in Bull Street Meeting House, Birmingham,
Recognition. QCOP was accepted as a Quaker Recognised Group in July 2018. This led to a flurry of activity, such as becoming a signatory of the 2015 Shared Statement on Climate Change by Quaker Groups. In line with the Alliance of World Scientists – A Warning to Humanity, we urged our members to write to organisations they belong to, such as political parties, pressure groups urging them to read and sign up to the statement.
Another result of becoming a Quaker Registered group is the automatic invitation to hold Special Interest Meetings and to run a table at the Groups Fair at Yearly Meetings. So in May 2019,Simon Beard, a Quaker demographer at Cambridge University researching Population Ethics and the future, gave a very well received Special Interest Meeting talk at London Yearly Meeting. His subject was Quakers, Population and the Future of Humanity. He spoke of the need for Change, saying “We need the courage to accept that our own society will alter radically and that it may be better if it changes more, than if it changes less.”
A further event was held with the AGM at Oxford Meeting House in heatwave conditions in late June 2019.
In October 2019 Roger Plenty was invited by the Planet Centred Forum to contribute to a seminar in Birmingham with an 8 minute talk on QCOP and what we do. The general theme was Responses to the future and Roger described what QCOP are doing to raise awareness of the issue amongst Quakers.. Nearly the whole Steering group attended and had a table there.They also enjoyed listening to Richard Guillebaud and a speaker from Extinction Rebellion amongst others.
In February 2020, our first event took place at a London Local meeting, Kingston upon Thames. At the invitation of the local Learning Group, QCOP ran a 5 hour session, with Cherry Foster, Roger Plenty and David Tinsley all contributing to a successful and interactive occasion. Materials used included wall photographs with quotes, useful and thought-provoking graphics such as the orange One-child-less, the David Attenborough at the RSA film, the ‘What are the Choices’ wall activity and an exercise with the Difficult Questions draft booklet. Presentations included one by David Tinsley, a Questions and Answer session with Roger Plenty and a short worldwide solutions presentation with Cherry Foster .
Advices and Queries. Despite global population being fundamental to the recently adopted Quaker commitment to living sustainably, there is a lack of comment on Family Planning or the wider issues of global population in Quaker writing such as Quaker Faith and Practice and Advices and Queries. A Writers Group was set up in 2018 up to try to rectify this. After several years of collecting ideas and a final set of comments by 22 QCOP members, a choice of 3 Advices and Queries to cover the subject of population was put forward in 2019 for consideration by the new revision group of Christian Faith and Practice. QCOP will next be looking at Quaker writings on the subject, for inclusion in the new version of the larger book.
In September 2020, a zoom meeting was held with Lindsey Fielder Cook and her colleague Beatrice Liese from QUNO, the Quaker UN Office. Our aim was to discuss with them how we could broaden the appeal of QCOP for Quakers. The answer was to embed it more firmly in the Climate Change debate and the drive to live more sustainably. Since then we have been checking that all our literature reflects this more explicitly.
A booklet called Difficult Questions about Population was about two years in the making, and was finally published in November 2020. A collaborative effort with contributions from Roger Plenty and others, this aims to be a readable resource with plenty of graphics, examples, quotations and illustrations. It is sent free to members and is available to buy in the Friends House Bookshop, London, and at the Edinburgh Friends Meeting House. (This booklet is on this website under the title Difficult Questions)
On November 19th 2020, QCOP made its first presentation at a school, at Leighton Park school.This was an initiative by David Tinsley of the Steering Group, who produced an interactive event on zoom as we were still in the second national lockdown.The feedback showed much appreciation of the explanation of the place of population in the Climate Change debate, short clips from films such as David Attenborough at the RSA,and Smaller Families,the mention of solutions, graphs, and personal or group mind exercises.
22.06.21 Warwick Local Meeting.Introduction to the subject of Global Population.7.30 p.m, presented by NIck Chetwood. (zoom|)
01.07.21 Presentation to the sixth form at Ackworth School by David Tinsley and other members of the QCOP Steering Group.(zoom)
22nd August 2021 – A zoom presentation to Newbury Meeting after meeting for worship, followed by discussion. Arranged by Maria Grace, run by Nick Chetwood. A private event for local Friends. (To arrange something similar for your meeting, contact any member of the QCOP Steering group)
Yearly Meeting Gathering 2021 The Yearly Meeting Gathering was online this year.
Groups Fair on Saturday 24th September from 14.30 to 16.00 and Sunday 25th from 19.00 to 20.30. A short presentation and chance to discuss issues with members of the Steering Group. We were visited by about 12 people and had some valuable discussions.
Tuesday 27th July 2021 16.30 – 17.30 . (Zoom)
Population Growth and the Climate Emergency: Ensuring a Just Transition. A talk by Jonathon Porritt, President of Population Matters and former Director of Friends of the Earth.
Jonathon Porritt spoke for 20 minutes to about 125 Quakers, covering the role of population in the Climate Emergency. He conveyed his urgency that all nations must take action without delay within the 10 year window of opportunity to reduce our carbon emissions and the atmostpheric warming before it reaches 2 degrees. We in the developed world are responsible for the crisis felt especially iin the developing world. “Overpopulation and overconsumption go hand in hand.” He asked what a just transition is, and suggested that for most people it means the interests and rights of poorer people not being just a postscript but central.” Jonathon took questions for the next 30 minutes covering a wide range of topics. When asked what we can do, his answer was, ” We have to keep on encouraging our politicians to continue to fund family planning…Remind politicians of the significance of reducing [Foreign] aid. Write in to politicians.” Unforunately the recording of this talk is not available.